In addition to the New Southbound Policy, one of the central initiatives of the Tsai Ing-wen administration has been the “5+2 Innovative Industry” program focusing on cutting edge industrial sectors. The goal of forging links between those two policies was assigned to the Ministry of Economic Affairs as one of the five flagship projects under…
Su Tseng-chang Takes Office as New Premier Following Premier Lai Ching-te’s resignation due to the poor showing of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in the November 2018 municipal elections, President Tsai tapped a senior DPP leader, Su Tseng-chang, to succeed him. The President told the media that she selected Su because he possesses three…
Tariff Rate Set for Offshore Wind Energy The Ministry of Economic Affairs in late January announced a new feed-in tariff for offshore wind power – a 5.71% reduction from the previous level but a smaller cut than the 12.71% previously proposed. The Ministry had been feeling pressure from two sides. Critics argued that the government…
The New Southbound Policy, launched in 2016 to enhance Taiwan’s contacts with countries in the surrounding region, has recently taken on added significance. The deterioration in U.S.-China economic relations has placed the spotlight on Southeast Asia and India as prime areas for future growth in trade and investment. Taiwan’s efforts to enhance relations with those…
Feeling the Pinch With the global trade environment growing increasingly uncertain, Taiwan recorded exports worth US$28.6 billion in December, 3% less than in the same month a year earlier. The Ministry of Finance attributed the dip largely to sluggish demand for semiconductors used in manufacturing smartphones. New export orders received in December told a similar…
Referendum Extends Use of Nuclear Energy In one of the 10 referendums that were also on the November 24 ballot, a substantial majority voted to overturn an article in the Electricity Act requiring Taiwan to terminate all nuclear power generation by 2025. Executive Yuan spokesperson Kolas Yotaka said that in accordance with that result, the…
Taiwan rose to 13th place in the 2019 Doing Business report. Taiwan moved up two notches from last year to rank No. 13 in the World Bank’s recently released 2019 Doing Business survey. It passed Estonia, Finland, and Australia but came in behind the United Arab Emirates, which soared all the way from last year’s…
KMT Stages Comeback in Local Elections The opposition Chinese Nationalist Party or Kuomintang (KMT) won mayoral seats in three closely watched major constituencies – Kaohsiung, Taichung, and New Taipei City – in local elections held November 24. In Taipei City, incumbent independent Mayor Ko Wen-Je was reelected by a narrow 3,000-vote margin, prompting the runner-up…
Forbes Lists Gou As Taiwan’s Richest In its annual survey of Asia’s wealthiest individuals, Forbes magazine named Terry Gou, founder and chairman of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. (also known as Foxconn), as Taiwan’s richest with a fortune worth US$7.3 billion. The Wei brothers of Ting Hsin Inter-national Group were ranked second with combined assets of…
Taiwan should adopt the MDSAP multilateral approach to plant audit reports. In this year’s Taiwan White Paper, AmCham Taipei’s Medical Devices Committee called attention to problems arising from Taiwan’s documentary requirements for medical device companies to qualify to utilize the government’s simplified approach to auditing manufacturing facilities in the United States. As part of the…
